Settlement On CBA Likely Won’t Be On The Horizon Until Week Of July 10th

The New York Times reports that now it doesn’t look like a labor deal and new CBA will be hammered out till around July 10th.

N.F.L. owners and players continued to negotiate late Thursday evening, but progress slowed as time dwindled for striking a labor deal that would avoid the disruption of the preseason. The N.F.L. had hoped to have at least an agreement in principle in place around the Fourth of July, but three people who have been briefed on the negotiations said that although a resolution remained possible within the next 10 days, it was more likely that negotiations would drag on past that time, with a better chance for a settlement coming the week of July 10.

One person said that little progress on the critical issues that divide the sides had been made earlier this week, when lawyers and staff members negotiated without owners and players in attendance, and another said he still believed it was possible that games would be missed and that it would require a breakthrough for a deal to be completed in the next couple of weeks. Recent joint appearances by Commissioner Roger Goodell and the chief of the decertified players union, DeMaurice Smith — including one Wednesday in which both men spoke to rookie players in Florida — fueled speculation that a deal was imminent, but despite the apparent thaw in the personal relationship between the two men, the sides continue to spar over such fundamental issues as the formation of a rookie wage system and how to divide revenue. One person who has been briefed on the status of talks said that the sides were close enough to complete a deal within 72 hours with intense effort, but dynamics among the parties, the person said, could stall a deal.